La prisonnière [Woman in Chains] *** (1968, Élisabeth Wiener, Bernard Fresson, Laurent Terzieff) – Classic Movie Review 6646

Writer-director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s stylish last film is his only one in colour. An unclassifiable erotic and psychological thriller, it focuses on the troubled mentality of an attractive young a television editor called Josée (Élisabeth Wiener) who is living in a suburban flat with an avant-garde artist named Gilbert Moreau (Bernard Fresson).

But she falls disastrously for Stanislas Hassler (Laurent Terzieff), the voyeuristic rich unmarried owner of the Paris modern art gallery that shows her husband’s work. The impotent and depraved Stanislas likes taking kinky photos and shows Josée a pornographic photograph he has taken of a naked woman in bondage and, though shocked, Josée asks him if she can sit in on a photo session and later starts posing for him.

This dark-toned, interesting and provocative curio has intriguing thematic links to Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Powell’s Peeping Tom and Buñuel’s Belle de Jour. It comes complete with a psychedelic head trip dream sequence that recalls Kubrick’s finale to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

La prisonnière [Woman in Chains] is one of three of Clouzot’s films restored on 4K and released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download by Studio Canal on 5 March 2018. A rare gem, it has not been seen in the UK since its original cinema release. The other Clouzot films are Le Corbeau [The Raven] and Quai des Orfèvres.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6646

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Henri-Georges Clouzot with his wife Vera Clouzot in 1953.